Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

orzafkawi - Member

Can anyone enlighten me on what is going on in ZwiftPower? I entered a WBR 4-lap race a couple of days ago and the initial result right after the race showed me finishing in bronze position in Group C (where I entered). Now I have been removed from the filtered result altogether but am placed in silver position in the unfiltered result.

I had this problem and checked with ZP. First point they made is the filtering is driven by the race organisers, rather than any of their rules.

With WBR, they filter ZP riders out of A and B completely and also from the podium of C.

So 4th place in C is the highest finish that will keep you in the results now in WBR.

Phil

I had this problem and checked with ZP. First point they made is the filtering is driven by the race organisers, rather than any of their rules.

With WBR, they filter ZP riders out of A and B completely and also from the podium of C.

So 4th place in C is the highest finish that will keep you in the results now in WBR.

Phil

That doesn't seem quite right either Phil. I just checked the results for two mates who didn't finish anywhere near the podium in C and both were filtered. I would say all zPower users are being filtered but bizarrely occasionally a few aren't. There just seems no rhyme or reason to it.

I just go with the unfiltered result now anyway. You enter group C and no matter how hard you ride you can only win group C. Seems fair to me. No arbitrary promotions or DQs. The Live result also shows first over the line irrespective of group etc. (including some strange times admittedly).

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=35329

I may just copy and paste yesterdays race in here 🙂

I did try and hang in longer today and just about managed it... I had 4 guys around me at the hilly bit after the bridge, i held onto one of them but the 2 others gapped us. We were all in the same bunch though just before the bridge, which is great IMO, it means at London i should be able to hang in the Bs. But at watopia the slight incline beofre that is where the strong Bs pull out.

Into the rollers i held with my new riding buddy but we were 4s behind the 2 guys ahead and didn't look like closing. Riding buddy was holding 3.4w/kg so i just sat in his wheel on the rest of the roller and into the descent to the line... .saw the 300m marker and sat, then 225 i kicked, he tried but we were evenly matched apart from the fact i had the jump on him, so i held him off by 6m.

299w weighted power, i can't argue... it's right up with my best ever powers... But that kick up is just destroying me. Looking at the results the winner of B and the rest of the top 10 were in the bunch i was happy in... Well, i say happy, i was 170bpm and dying... but dying OK 🙂

Ah well... Keep trying... rest day tomorrow.

Nice riding Weeksy, that just confirms you are deffo a B rider, you were 1 min quicker than the fastest C riders (C winner is clearly not a C). Those stats are impressive and i reckon that would be faster than me so i shall do my best to avoid you in the 1 lappers 😀

I did a 4 lap reverse hilly route today and it was jolly hard work. I lost the A group about 4 miles in as i wasnt concentrating so i was in a group of B riders who were vying for silver and bronze as 1 rider was still with the A group. Pretty tough going and 1 rider kept dropping off the screen and reappearing in front of us which was incredibly annoying (happened about 20 times). Anyway i was soundly beaten in the sprint and ended up 5th

I saw your result on ZwiftPower earlier weeksy. Some great power you are pushing out there.

Can someone offer me some advice please.

Did the short loop this evening 30km with 250m climbing and had no issues with slipping on the rear tyre.

I then decided to do Jons short 30 minute interval session which is based on my ftp. Come the 10 second intervals it wants me to push 945 watts and when on the easiest gear on the bike the wheel just slips.

Is there a setting I need to sort on the trainer or do I just keep tightening the trainer to the tyre?

Wahoo snap kickr is the trainer I'm using.

Thanks chaps

Snap is ' touch wheel, 2 full turns' I use a bit of tape on handle so I know where 2 is. Then ride for 5 mins to warm it and check with Wahoo app using Spindown test, 10-15 seconds it should be. If outside of that, adjust.

945 watts? I've never seen over 800w!

With an FTP of 310 it gives me 945 watt 10 sec intervals.. I may try tightening it up tomorrow and trying again.

Hi, I appear to have a corrupt fit file that won’t upload to Strava. Is this normal and is there a fix anyone knows of ?
Cheers

Thanks for the info MrBlobby, its the first time I've thought about riding my bike other than just smashing myself to bits and struggling to get home again.

I had a mate come over with a pioneer power meter tonight to check out the accuracy of the T2240. Results were surprisingly close, within 5% all the way through the range from 170w up to 350w. Makes me feel a lot happier about my numbers as i was sure it was over-reading.

geologist, I've used https://www.fitfiletools.com a few times when I've wanted to remove dodgy heart rate traces etc from rides. Not sure it can help you, but maybe

Thanks Scardypants, that has worked. 🙂

I think I have a zwift hangover, it certainly feels like a hangover and it's getting better the more water I drink.

Last nights 1:45 is the longest I've done on the turbo, even though most of it was at a nice bimbling pace I must have lost a lot of fluid. Down to 81KG this morning (from 84 last night, before dinner). I only really stopped cos I'd run out of water, better prep needed!

Gentle one today, just wanted to not go crazy and was doing some weights in between and at start/finish. Also with it being a 2 (fasting day) day i couldn't go nuts.
Sorry to Blader if i was being a pain in the ar5e 🙂

945 watt 10 sec intervals

I managed 1150 on those but ran out of gears. I managed 1252 on a watt bike in October but ran out of legs 😀

Was it me or was NyD no helmet day for some reason?

Weeksy - good to ride with you. I wasnt sure what output you were aiming for so i just tried to stay slightly ahead of you. I was only out warming up for the mgcc workout so i wasnt bothered by whatever pace i was doing, just wanted to gain some height for the everest challenge as i am closing in on finishing it.

<tuts at the illegal pacing> 😀

blader - "everest" or the flashy bike ?

Flashy bike thing scaredypants, i am about 87% complete so i am going to try and complete it by end of January. My warm up for races now consist of a pootle up the mountain.

Edit: just checked and i am 90% complete which leaves me about 15000ft left to do which i reckon should be easy enough.

Was it me or was NyD no helmet day for some reason?

Why do people even bother wearing helmets on Zwift? It's not like you're going to fall off and smack your avatar's noggin on the kerb.

Helmets are more aero 🙂

Why do people even bother wearing helmets on Zwift?

I have genuinely fallen off my bike/turbo setup. Would have hurt less if I'd have been wearing a hemet 😆

Edit: just checked and i am 90% complete which leaves me about 15000ft left to do which i reckon should be easy enough.

^^^ yeah that’s what I’m doing now as in erg mode you don’t feel the hills 🙂

Only about 24% of the way there though... regret doing a couple of the distance challenges first now as they don’t unlock anything worth having!

Helmets are more aero

Combination of weight saving and short hair says maybe not faster though... I change my hairstyle on Zwift depending on the route. It's the best bit of the whole shebang. Mostly I alternate between the shortest and the longest and choose a jersey to suit... 🙂

Only about 24% of the way there though... regret doing a couple of the distance challenges first now as they don’t unlock anything worth having!

Intriguingly - after I lost 1300m of virtual climbing when the app crashed on save last week - support at Zwift told me that you can run several different challenges simply by logging out of one and going back to another. So you could switch to the Everest Challenge for mountain rides and something distance based for flatter stuff.

They were insistent that the app would save the metres already climbed / distance ridden. That's what they say, but no way am I running the risk of losing all my Everest climbing to date by logging into another challenge. Anyone done that and able to verify it works as promised?

Anyone done that and able to verify it works as promised?

LOL at the idea of being at 49000m then logging into Italy for a flat ride the having to restart the Everest challenge.

Even though it’s just a game I’d be using a lot of c words

So you could switch to the Everest Challenge for mountain rides and something distance based for flatter stuff.

Last nights 1:45 is the longest I've done on the turbo

:-/ I’m at a real risk of heading to a 5hr Zwift ride this weekend. Even worse is it’s likely to start at 6am to get the time in.

I think 3hr 15/m30m is my longest so far. Ironically my high intensity workouts have shifted outdoors as I’ve returned to regular running. Which isn’t really how I’d viewed turbo training historically.

LOL at the idea of being at 49000m then logging into Italy for a flat ride the having to restart the Everest challenge.

Even though it’s just a game I’d be using a lot of c words

It would be mildly irritating for sure... what is quite annoying is that they have no back-end tool to modify users' challenge scores, so my missing 1300m is gone forever despite Zwift registering the ride and being able to upload the FIT file to Strava manually. 😐

Either remove it or add something else, otherwise everyone will be riding one and it’ll look a bit silly!

Just add a time limit to complete

After a hard, hilly ride on the road last night I decided to do recovery ride on Zwift today. I created a custom workout which consisted of a 1 hour free ride block. The nice thing about this is you have no power targets to hit and you can just ride how you feel. Another advantage is that you don't constantly get the annoying “CLOSE THE GAP” message every time a rider goes past.

I did the Mountain circuit and managed to rack up 1431 feet of climbing towards my Everest Challenge that is 30% completed. Only 20,000 or so feet to go!

Mountain route is about 2200 feet isn't it? I know because I've been doing the same thing lol. Every lap is about 1.3% of the way towards the tron bike. Hope to be able to get there this year but that depends whether I keep Zwifting over the summer or not (didn't last year).

Had a hard, largely unexciting but satisfying 4 lap race last night. Brought up the rear in B (although not last!) but actually beat loads of people (a few Bs but mainly sandbagging Cs) with higher watts and/or w/kg so it was still worth 3 CVR points (not that I care about such things 🙂 )

Managed to sustain 3 w/kg for over an hour which I'd not done before, think I'm getting fitter slowly but also managed to reign myself in at the start and not go off too hard for once, which made a big difference as I didn't have to slow down to recover!

Yes, the mountain route is 2200 feet but I only wanted to do a one hour recovery ride so stopped at the first pass rather than go on to the radio tower.

To be fair the radio tower bit is brutally steep, if I'm doing a recovery ride rather than trying to simulate a climb I normally whack the trainer difficulty slider down (or off!)

Forza, if you use the Zwift TT bike, you’ll get no draft effect and no ‘close the gap’ messages. May be easier than using workout mode?

Forza - i hate to break it to you but if you have completed 30% then you have a lot lot more than 20,000ft to go.

I missed a race today as it crashed so i decided to just pootle up the three sisters course. I ended up pacing a german guy up there at about 280-300w which felt pretty comfortable to me. We exchanged a few words and he said he was going all out to keep pace but enjoying the challenge. Every little flat section he would jump ahead a few secs but i would catch up and lead him up the hills and then on the approach to the last climb to the epic KOM banner he shot off up the hill and a 11sec lead and then goaded me to hurry up and keep up. Sadly i wasnt going to take that so jumped up the gears and ramped it up to 450-500w and went for the line,destroyed him. I dont think he expected that but was kind of gracious in defeat, i just went over the top and road down the hill with quite a smug face, so juvenile!

Hahahaha you big kid ! 😀

Everest challenge is ~8800m but that only gets you the trek. Tron bike is 50,000m.

Thanks for the tip crosshair, I'll try that.

blader - I've done something like 8,800 ft out of a 29,000 ft climb which works out at 30% complete and roughly 20,000 ft to go. That's according to Zwift anyway.

I'm not after the Tron bike (yet!) I've got my sights on the Trek Emonda first.

Forza i see now, ok carry on as you were. 😀

Weeksy - i was meant to be just spinning lightly but he lit the blue touch paper and my zwift race head went on. It was so satisfying and utterly childish at the same time but i did rather enjoy it.
Leg muscles are very sore though now after the mountain climb and a workout yesterday that had us doing 30s intervals of 230w and 300w x40! Total rest this weekend or as much as i can with 3 young kids.

Today I ventured outside for my slow spin ride as ive been on zwift all week and figured some fresh air may do me good. I got bored having to think about potholes and traffic wishing I was back on the trainer. Addicted.

I've entered into the tour de zwift ride tomorrow morning, 530 people in cat c so far, I can see it being carnage!

couldnt be bother to wait for a race so did the road to ruins loop.

I know in a race you dont see other non-racers, but when you are just riding around do you see racers?

I have the tron bike but riding the madone recently - is the tron markedly faster?

Messed up tonight- wife and daughter are away this weekend, and I've been itching to Zwift all day, but stuck at work. So get home, straight in, planned on 20 miles up and around the Volcano.

I was feeling pretty in the zone- too much, it seems, at mile 1. Average FTP was about 4.6 w/kg, whereas I'm usually 3 or so. Thinking it was just a Zwift bug, and feeling good, I pressed on.

By about mille 5 or 6, I realised that this odd power increase was still present. What was more was that I'd seemingly just won a sprint, which hasn't ever happened ever. It couldn't have been the turbo, I calibrated it the other day. So....I kept on.

By mile 13 or so I spotted something was seriously adrift. I remembered that Zwift has a viewpoint feature, but had never used it. After 2 or so miles, I worked out how its done, and shifted the viewpoint to a frontal view. Something oddly....[i]female[/i] about my avatar tonight? This is some serious glitching! And a heck of a lot of thumbs-ups from other riders tonight....

Anyway, blind to my obvious stupidity, I carried on to mile 20 then quit. Only to be told that my estimated FTP had risen from 209.....to 239....whereas my norm right now is about 245.

The penny dropped as I was mopping up. I'd accidentally logged in on the Apple TV as my 14 year old daughter......she's very precious about her stats and won't be happy 🙁

😆 at Cody

LOL - crying!

@mashiehood

Tron bike: 50:52/lap

Trek Madone: 51:05/lap

https://zwiftinsider.com/5-fastest-bikes/

It's not about the bike.

just read that zwiftinsider article - seems that height doping is also possibly a thing 😯

Yes - height affects how it works out your drag & has a marked effect apparently. Glad I’m a short arse for once 🙂

but when you are just riding around do you see racers?

yes, me too - at 4ft8 there's little else in life to celebrate 😉

Bloody hell, that was the hardest race I've done so far. Not had a chance to pour over the stats properly yet but started getting tingles all over my body like I was coming up at one point. Every incline had me pushing to stay with the lead group but just couldn't hack it just as we went into the 4th lap.

I had about 1:20 on the chasers with 10k to go but they were reeling me in, one got past me in the last 500m but held the rest off.

Absolutely nothing left in the tank, im still shaking like a leaf now an hour (a chocolate yoghurt thing and a nana/oats/honey/milk recovery shake later)

Edit WBR 4 lap wattopia flat

I know in a race you dont see other non-racers, but when you are just riding around do you see racers?

Not sure if they were racing or it was fast group rides but I have been swamped by big groups going passed me.

Did the three sisters today to get my vertical metres up for the Everest challenge. 900m put me at 43% completed. I was worried as the last time I did it both my calves seized and it nearly killed me but if seemed a lot easier today. It was nice for the confidence in passing a whole lot of people as well. Zwift even said I had increased my ftp to 218w so I am on the cusp of racing (and getting spanked) in the Bs. That was a surprise as I wasn't flogging myself.

I am not sure it was a fair increase though as on the hills you are pumping out more watts anyway. Saying that they must makes some allowance for it as my best 20min is 229w which I equalled today.

Thanks for the ride on scaredy!

Tour de Zwift was fun - 156th out of 450 so not too bad after a week off the bike 3.5w/kg

mashiehood - Member
Tour de Zwift was fun - 156th out of 450 so not too bad after a week off the bike 3.5w/kg

Nice job. I only noticed the email at 10am this morning, will try for the ones next week.

Shandy - Member
Mine connected with both my iPhone and Surface via Bluetooth the other day when I set it up. Tonight the Kikr was showing as connected on the Surface, but Zwift couldn't pick it up at all.

I tried to Join and pay on the iPhone and got an error message. I paid on PayPal in a browser and and then managed to get the iPhone working and start an FTP test in erg mode. Did the whole warmup routine and then erg mode cancelled itself when the FTP test started, all the resistance fades and the most I could spin it up to was about 135 watts. I'm using a 29 hardtail frame with a 36 front ring but 36-11 for 20 minutes flat out would be a lot more than 135 watts.

I don't know if you got to the bottom of the FTP test thing, but we've just had the same issue using a Kickr and a MacBook Pro. My gf tried to do the short FTP test workout and when the FTP test started, she basically lost all resistance and the trainer topped out at a steady 130 watts or so.

After a bit of digging, the answer for us seemed to be to connect with ANT+ rather than Bluetooth and select the FEC mode when pairing the trainer. A quick spin through the test suggests that's sorted it.

As far as I can work out the FEC mode thing seems to be the key to it. With the MBP, I don't think it's actually an option under Bluetooth, though I may be being thick, hence the ANT+ thing. The Sufferfest app won't control the trainer under Bluetooth with Mac OS currently, hence having the ANT+ stuff to hand.

Anyway, thought I'd leave this here in case it helps anyone else. There's also a thread about it on the Zwift support hub thing: https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115018151903-FTP-test-bug-fail?page=1#community_comment_115001500531

There's a Clyde race today. Cats based upon weight. So I'll be in the 90+kg cat. Up a Hilly route. Should be quite interesting to see how people go.

mashiehood - Member
Tour de Zwift was fun - 156th out of 450 so not too bad after a week off the bike 3.5w/

Nice work indeed. I fancied that one but I wouldn't have quite finished in time for family stuff

What's the tour de zwift - the whole of watopia? (at 3.5 w/kg? 😯 )

Nah it was 3 laps volcano flat

I really enjoyed the ride today although it was bonkers with so many people.

On screen i came 55th in cat C but got dq'd as i rolled over the line at 3.4w/kg. There was a group about 15secs in front that I felt needed bringing back and led a charge out to it. Unfortunately once I made it to them there was a slight incline and I had nothing left to stay in the group. I think if i didnt try and bridge my w/kg wouldnt have gone over which is frustrating.

One other thing I got a new max hr on the ride of 176bpm, avergae hr was 167bpm. Dead.

Oh jeeeez that killed me. I can't actually speak, trying to hold back the puke.
In all honesty it wasn't the most exciting race, groups split lots, had a 4 man group but the incline after bridge goes on forever and my legs didn't have it.
Got caught with 300m to go by 3 others and passed, I was toast by then.

Utterly destroyed

The P-race wasn't any more fun Weeksy. A huge group got away at the start and I just couldn't hang on. Spent the remaining 3 and 3/4 laps in a small group trying to catch back up. Never did.

I'm just back into zwift after a forced layoff bikes, and life in general. I broke/shattered T3 vertebrae after a OTB and into a tree in the local forest back in September. 8 weeks flat bed rest (op was too risky apparently) was the treatment, which is pretty savage to your muscles. I came out at the end of November with a spinal brace and just standing was an achievement.

Well Christmas came and so did my enthusiasm to get back on a bike, so into the house came the turbo and fired up Zwift. Just building up general strength again at the moment just 30mins or so at a time (1lap wattopia just!), but its so nice to back in a saddle, even in this straightjacket of a brace. Looking forward to pushing on.

Welcome into the topic Nuts (you see what I did there)

Good luck with the recovery mate

Glad to hear your back on the road to recovery, that accident sounds grim!

Would it be worth organising a stw group ride at some point?

I got thrown off the TDZ stage 1 leader board too! I usually manage around 3 to 3.3w/kg so thought it would be sensible to go for Cat C over the 20 odd miles. Went off thinking the pace of around 3.5 wouldnt last but everyone was hammering away still after the first lap and by that point I got carried away keeping with groups as opposed to watching the power. The clue should have been how I was dying by mid way in to lap 3. I ended up 74th in C after a gruelling final sprint, but then to my horror saw 3.5w/kg. Will have to go in B for the next stage to avoid the same again even though I don’t reckon my abilities will serve me so well on the next course.

That's a fine power there buddy! I feel a little inadequate today compared to many STWers.

Cheers. It’s not really a fair reflection I doubt though, as z power only on the turbo bike and not been outdoors for weeks so haven’t had a chance to check my current abilities with the power meter! Only managed 3.1w/kg for last weeks medio Dolomites Fondo and I’m 6’2’ 79kg so looks better than it is. First hill and I go backwards quick haha.

@79kg you're getting sold all sympathy from me

@cycle86 I must have been in the group just one in front of you, I was holding on for the pace to drop a little before lap 1 was over, shocked it stayed at full beans for the whole race.

I dont think it helped the way they staggered starts, there were A's in my group that I think pushed the pace up. I notice for the next stage they are letting the faster groups go off first.

Quite possible. Tried 2/3 times to bridge across in lap 2 & 3 but pace was too high for solo efforts. There were D riders in front I never reached. Looking on zwift power there were riders with a listed 3.3w/kg who didn’t get dq’d from D though which was odd. Definitely a messy one! Aiming to do the full 5, but stage 4 on three sisters worries me most.

Enjoyed the TDZ, but found the pace brutal.
In group C at the end of lap 1 I was in 170th position, lap 2 180th, and lap 3 215th. Everyone around was over 3w/kg for most of the time. ZP has me in 86th position now???
I was blowing at the end. One guy admitted to puking at the end.
Only saw C's.
Kept having to remind myself it wasn't a race, just finish to qualify to be in with a chance for one of the Elite trainers.
There was some good banter afterwards too, and exchanged a couple of words with Eric Min too?
Looking forwards to next Saturday's ride around the three sisters, even at 192cm and 90kg.
Is everyone in the STW Team?

First ride on zwift yesterday evening - where/how do I sign up to the races .. and STW team?

signing in to races is easiest on the zwift app ("mobile link") - you need a zwiftpower registration to race too, I think. It's worth doing anyway, even if it isn't essential

Can't remember how to "join" team STW. I't just a matter of typing STW in a box somewhere but I can't remember where 😳

Can't find it.... Hmmmm.

on the zwiftpower profile page (access from icon @ top right of the zwiftpower page), my team is listed as STW and if I click on that it just takes me to the STW team page. I wonder if that section of my profile was blank I might be able to type something in ?

I was thinking of entering a race tomorrow morning and the schedule says London but most of the races indicate Watopia apart from a couple of WBR races which say London. Any ideas what's up?

Not sure what is happening there Forza but i will likely be on the 10:15 4 lap flat race. I will be riding the mountain beforehand to warm up and gain some height as i inch closer to the tron bike.

I was thinking of entering a race tomorrow morning and the schedule says London but most of the races indicate Watopia apart from a couple of WBR races which say London. Any ideas what's up?

Switchover on US time?

The switchover is at 04:00 GMT. All the confusion is after that.